Pages

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Smathers Dawn

As reluctant as I am to admit it there is one good thing about this silly transition to winter time and that's that I get to see some spectacular sunrises on my way home after work. South Roosevelt Boulevard under the dark blue dawn with the Sheraton to the left.

As sunrises go this one wasn't the greatest but I enjoyed standing in the sand of Smathers Beach watching the day develop. The lights around the airport to the east.

The beach is named for a Miami businessman and politician and US Senator known to his enemies as 'gorgeous George.' George Smathers beat Claude Pepper out of his senate seat at the request of President Truman who had a grudge against Pepper a noted progressive who supported universal health care (in 1950!) and civil rights. Smathers was a southern Blue Dog Democrat of the kind who would later become southern Republicans after Ronald Reagan made it safe for them to join the hated party of Abraham Lincoln. He beat Pepper by claiming his opponent was a Communist - shades of 2011!

Smathers it is said came as close as Dallas to becoming US President for he was in the running to be Vice President alongside his friend John Kennedy. The two of them were famous for their womanizing together among other feats of masculine endurance. I suspect Key West's longest beach was named for Smathers thanks to his connections to President Truman, Key West's own, and his eighteen years in the Senate representing Florida. The other stuff was coincidental and not reported in those innocent days.

In the pantheon of Florida beaches Smathers doesn't amount to much with it's imported sand and shallow rocky waters but it does look good, especially under a blue sky and an a moon and sun both fighting for dominance.

The breeze was put of the east and not stro g enough to make then air cold.

This is how Florida looks best to some people offering a glimpse of endless summer in a world gripped by ice and snow.

The joggers and cyclists were starting to appear and commuters were driving by and I had a dog at home half an hour away waiting for a walk. Time to ride.

Key West Diary

An archive of more than 4600 photo essays about Keys living since June 2007. My thanks to all those who have made up the 2 million views received by this page over the years.
Please feel free to reproduce any original photo as long as you give my blog the credit.